Obituary of Roberta L. Rawleigh

Roberta Lois Rawleigh, 83, of Bath, died Wednesday, February 1, 2012, at the Steuben County Health Care Facility in Bath, NY. Roberta was born on April 29, 1928 in Hanover Twp., Luzerne County, PA to James Harvey and Maggie Bristol Harvey. She married Chancy C. Rawleigh on November 28, 1946. She was the mother to two children, Rev. Chancy R. Rawleigh,Ph.D., of Indiana, PA, now deceased, and Elizabeth R. Wijangco, of Glen Burnie, MD. Besides her daughter Elizabeth (Felix) she is survived by 5 grandchildren: Mary Leisenring of MD, Danielle Facella of VA, Chancy R. Rawleigh, Jr., of MN, Ciarra Lynn Rawleigh of MD, and Colin Patrick Rawleigh of PA. She is also survived by 1 great grandaughter, Jai Leisenring of MD and a sister Margaret Amos of AL. Other survivors are her sisters-in-law, Agnes Harvey, Irene Mesler, and Elenore Harvey all of Bath, and her brother-in-law, Leonard Demeule of FL, and a daughter-in-law, Judith Shabbick of PA. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews, all of whom she loved dearly and an aunt, Doris Jewell of OH. She was predeceased by her parents and her brothers, James, Charles (Dutch), and William Harvey and her sisters, Mildred Demeule, Florence Rinker and Mary Harvey. She worked at Westinghouse and North American Philips for many years, eventually retiring in 1988. Roberta was a born leader. She was very involved in the American Flint Glass Workers Union while working at the Westinghouse/Philips plant in Bath. She served in several positions in the Union. She was the financial secretary, recording secretary, executive representative, trustee and was the President of the Union for many, many years. She was also very involved with the International Union for the glass workers and held offices in the Glass Workers' Protective League of New York State. She loved to do volunteer work with RSVP and was active in the retirees group from Philips. She was also a member of the American Legion Auxiliary. Roberta loved music and loved to listen to it, and she especially loved to sing and had a beautiful voice. She was very well known at the SCHCF for her yodeling and gave a lot of pleasure to the staff when she would yodel for them. She loved people and was always ready to help them in any way she could. She lacked a formal education but she decided, at the age of 45, to get her GED. She made up for the lack of formal education by the use of her keen intelligence, knowledge, hard work, wit, and sense of humor. She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Bath. A memorial service will be held on March 10, 2012 at 11:00am at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on May St. in Bath, NY. Donations may be made to your favorite charity or to The Center For Family Life at 125 North 5th St., Indiana, PA 15701 which was dedicated in the memory of her son.